The Girl in the Crystal
An: a story that I forshadowed in the latest story here. Takes place in Manvadrasia Chapter One Mark was having the weirdest dream; He was in the forest, walking towards the remarkable thing about it, the crystal. He was in an almost trace-like state as he came over to it. Go child, A voice spoke softly. Go to it and free her. He then saw a beautiful girl trapped inside of it; A young succubus seemingly sleeping, almost floating in the dark crystal. He woke up softly from that, blinking a few times to try and get his bearings. He stretched out his arms and wings, and got off the bed. "What was that about?" He wondered. He had seen the crystal in the forest outside of town a few times before, while it was very impressive, it was always a little...foreboding. It was unnatural, it really didn't belong there, nothing in the world would suggest it would even form there. He was snapped out of thinking by Faith knocking in his door. "Mark, you okay in there?" She asked. Mark quickly opened the door. His 'Big sis' looked at him with a soft expression that clashed with her messy hair and wrinkled clothes. "Huh? What do you mean?" "You kept talking in your sleep, kept me up all night." Mark just blushed. "I-I did?" Faith laughed. "Relax, I didn't hear anything that you said, just some mumbling." Mark sighed in relief. "Anyways, Better get ready for today, Nico Said something about taking you and the gang on a picnic or something." Mark eye's widened. "Ah! I completely forgot about that!" He rushed over and put on some random clothes and ran outside. ---- Nico Sighed. Mark was late, again. Sara and Leo at least had the decency to be punctual, at this rate, the lunch his mom made would go to waste. Luckily, a Mark came in running. "Sorry I'm late!" The Incubus said. "At least you came here eventually, now let's go." The Angel replied, and led them to their picnic area. Sara slithered over to Mark. "So, hows it going?" "Good, nothing out of the ordinary." he said almost instinctively. Leo followed closely, he and Sarah had been dating for a few months now, a far cry from how he used to edge away from his friends. "You have to find a way be get here on time, this is like your tenth time being late, I can get here all the way from my house in fifteen minutes." Mark rubbed the back of his head. The Beastman had a point. "Sorry, I had a bit of trouble sleeping." They chatted some more as their small town faded into a peaceful clearing in the forest. "Alright, this should do!" Nico Said proudly as he unfurled the picnic blanket and set the basket down. They all sat down and began to chat while Nico took out sandwiches for everyone. They Chatted for a while, but Marked seemed... distracted. He kept looking off towards the deeper part of the forest. Mark got up So Suddenly that it made everyone else jump, he quickly ran in the directions he had been staring at. His friends quickly chased after him. Leo was quietly cursing him under his breath for wasting perfectly good food. They managed to Track him down near the Crystal. It had appeared he'd gone insane as he smashed the thing with a rock he had found. Nico, Ran over and began to shake him. "What are you doing?!" Mark didn't seem to register any of this and Nico just let him go. "I'll give him credit," Leo Said. "He seems very determined to do...Whatever the hell he's trying to do." Nico glared at him. "Sure, most lunatics are. We need to get help." A cracking sound broke through the forest. The Crystal had been shattered, and Mark seemed to snap out of his trance. Mark backed up, seemingly dazed and confused. The Crystal was begging to shatter slowly, the cracks spreading through out it. Sara looked at him in shock. "How did you do that?" "I-I don't know!" The crystal broke into a million pieces, fragments littered the floor, but something else was also happening. The girl from his dream seemed to be sleeping on the top of the pile. Mark ran over to the girl. She was wearing these old, aristocratic clothes. Her head was bleeding, and that's what got his attention. The others came, and Nico checked the girl. "She's alive, but we need to get her medical attention." Mark nodded and they hoisted her up. The Group went out of the forest, and back home. An: First Chapter! tell me what you think about it so far. Chapter Two Her head felt like it had been bashed in with an orcish mace. She was slowly floating back into consciousness, her eyes began to flutter open. She seemed to be laying down on some sort of cheap bed. She tried to slowly get up, but felt weak. "Easy," A male voice chided her. "You've taken quite a blow to the head." She turned her head to the left and saw an angel, the man seemed to be a healer, but she didn't remember getting hurt. Why was she here? She put her hand on her head, there were bandages wrapt around her head. "W-what happened?" The Man pointed to the other side of the room, she turned and saw A young incubus, waving nervously. "My son's friend here found you and brought you here." The Boy put out his hand. "My name's Mark, pleased to met you." She slowly put her hand out as a response. "My Name is," She blinked. "My name is..." Her head started to hurt again. Remember... The Angel out his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" "My memory... I can't remember anything." "Amnesia? Well, that was a serious blow to the head, but don't worry, you should be completely healed in a few days. Your memories should come back in the meantime." There was a small, quiet pause for a few seconds. "Um, where am I going to stay?" "You can stay with me," Mark blurted out. The Angel raised an eyebrow "Are you sure your father and sister would approve of that?" The Boy nodded. "My dad and sis can take care of an extra person for a few days." He looked at her. "A-as long as it's okay with you." She thought about it for a few seconds. He helped me, he can't be a bad person. Besides, he looks sort of... cute. She nodded. "It's fine," She bowed her head. "Thank you." ---- "So, where was I when you found me?" She asked as they made their way through the town. "You probably won't believe me when I say this, but we found you in the forest... But you were inside of a giant crystal." She stopped in her tracks. "A... Crystal. That seems...familiar" "You... don't find it strange?" She looked at the floor. "Well of course it sounds strange, but... I Think your telling the truth." Mark smiled. "Thank you." They walked for a few more minutes before they arrived at Mark's home. "It seems so... Small" She mumbled. They entered the door and saw a succubus reading at a small table. Her curly red hair was cut up to her shoulders, her wings were folded neatly on her back, and her tail was wrapt around the base of the chair. The woman turned and smiled at Mark, but her face became neutral when she noticed his companion. "Mark, who is this? " Mark Blushed a bit as he explained the situation. Faith looked over the girl curiously. "So You have no memory of anything?" The girl shook her head. "No, I don't know my own name." she said sadly. "Hmm," Faith put the book on a shelf, and then sighed. "No memories..." She shook her head. "Alright, you can stay here." Mark Thanked his sister, and led the girl to the spare room. Faith looked on as they went through the door. Chapter Three They had a quick dinner after Mark's father had come home, he seemed to treat the idea of the girl's stay well and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. She went to bed soon afterwards, though the bed in question seemed a bit odd. It was small and not as soft as she expected, but that didn't change the fact that she went to sleep almost immediately. ---- She was in a large, dark room with an older woman. The woman was a fellow Succubus, with long dark hair, large black wings and long tail. "Umbra, please pay attention." The woman sounded like the way she would expect a teacher to speak. "I know that you're quite skilled naturally, but a mage's greatest asset is training." The girl nodded. "I understand, mother." Her mother smiled. "So, why don't we try something simple first, just try making your own shadow physical." Umbra nodded in understanding, she lifted her hand and concentrated. Her shadow rose from the ground, looking like a near perfect replica of the girl. The shadow was as dark as the name implies, but what was physical was the girl and her mother. The mother smiled and nodded. "Very good, that's the very first step most people have to take with Shadowmancy. It usually takes a lot of work just to get this far." Umbra smiled. "Thank you mother." All of a sudden, the image faded away. A voice that was deep, yet conforting spoke. "My Champion, please forgive me for this, it was not my plan for this to happen." The Voice paused as if expecting a response. "My dear child, your father's...ambitions must be stopped at Sacello. If you were to go there, you will receive all of your past. I showed you that one glimps into the past to give you your name, now, please go and wake." ---- Umbra rose from the bed. The name still ringing in her head, it was hers, she was sure of it. The Voice in her dream seemed somewhat...Familiar. She had Heard it somewhere before, she was also sure of that. Her Head Began to hurt again, feeling slightly less painful than before. She noticed a sound, like a beat. It seemed to be coming from outside, the sun still hadn't risen, what would be making that noise at this hour? this wandered out of the room, and quietly went outside. She seemed to be in some sort of training area now, at the back of the house. Mark's sister, Faith, was slashing at a stuffed bag that was made to look like a person. "Um, excuse me?" Umbra said quietly. The older demon looked behind her and put the large knife in it's sheath. "What are you doing up?" "I um... had a dream, then I heard you outside." She nodded in understanding. "I see, sorry for waking you." She sat down on the floor. "So, want to talk? We have an hour to pass until sunrise." Umbra nodded. "Okay then," She sat down and looked up into the night sky. "The stars look so beautiful tonight." Faith smiled. "Yeah, whenever I used to wake Mark up when I do something like this," she pointed over to the training dummy. "We used to just count stars, and try to make images out of them." "So, um, why are you training?" Faith got a pained expression on her face. 'I-it's an old habbit, f-from my... old job." Umbra decided not to press on this, and tried to change the subject. "Anyways, I, um, think i'm geting my memories back." "Ah, I see." She smiled. "glad to see that you getting better." "Thank you." "So, anything interesting you rember?" "I remember my name, and..." She stopped. Should I tell her about that trick I saw in the dream? She knew she could do it, it came as naturaly to her as breathing. But she had a feeling it was abnormal. "That's about it." "Better than nothing I suppose." Faith said. "So what is it?" "Umbra, my name is Umbra." Faith looked at her and smiled. "Good, I'm sure Mark will be happy about it too." Umbria stood up. "If you don't mind me asking, what do we do now?" "Well, now I usually light a candle and read." She shrugged. "Then when the sun comes up I cook breakfast for Mark and his father." She smiled. "So let's go inside, I know a good book you should read." Chapter Four Half an hour later, Mark woke up. The morning sun coming through his window as he began to get dressed. He went downstairs to find his sister cooking, and the mysterious girl reading. "Good Morning." Said the girl. "Morning, how are you feeling?" "Well, I remember my name, not much else though. It's Umbra." "That's a pretty name," Mark replied. "Say, would you like to go to the shrine with us today?" Category:Manvadrasia Category:Fantasy Category:Stories